Medicare will begin mailing out the new Medicare cards to beneficiaries in April 2018. The cards are expected to be sent out in seven waves depending on the state. Below we’ve included Medicare’s mailing strategy for when your practice should expect to begin seeing patients with the new beneficiary cards.

You should begin advising your patient’s and/or their caregivers to expect their new cards between April 2018 and April 2019. The cards will be sent to the address on file at the Social Security Administration. When notifying the patient’s have them verify their address with the SSA and ask them to bring them to your office for your staff to update the patient’s demographics in your system to ensure there are no missteps in receiving the new cards.

During the transition period, between April 2018 and December 2019, you will be able to use both the HICNs (Health Insurance Claim Number) and/or the new MBIs (Medicare Beneficiary Identifier) for billing and corresponding with Medicare. Starting January 1, 2020, only the MBI will be accepted.